Stratford Rotary Club: Pupils full of words after dictionary donation

St Joseph's School Stratford pupils Deegan Uhlenberg,11, and Kaitlyn Simkin, 13, thanking Stratford Rotary Club president Barrie Smith and honorary member Mary Stanley. Photo/ Supplied

Avon School and St Joseph's Stratford pupils are full of words after a donation from the Stratford Rotary Club.

The recent donation from the local service club of a set of dictionaries means the pupils are probably not just grateful, but appreciative and thankful as well. Even better, they can spell those words too.

While the club is part of an international movement, its main aim is to serve the local community.

One of the ways the club does that is through the Rotary Dictionary Project. The project, which started in 2008 as a joint venture between the Bill and Lorna Boyd Trust and the Rotary Club of Pakuranga, has spread nationwide with most clubs participating.

The aim of the project is to gift Year 4 children (8-to-9-year-olds) a personal copy of the Usborne Illustrated Dictionary. The dictionary contains over 1000 full-colour illustrations and is targeted for children with a reading age of about 9.

President Barrie Smith says the club donated a total of 16 dictionaries.

"We donated 12 to Avon School and the four to St Joseph's for their library. We have donated dictionaries to Avon School every year of the project."

He says the project sits well with the values of the Stratford Rotary Club.

"One of our main focuses is youth education and we will always heavily support that field."